By Sam King
Street Angel is a 12-year old homeless skateboarding girl. In this story, she goes to juvie in order to perform a secret mission. I had never heard of Street Angel before, but I thought this was pretty fun. It isn’t as short as a typical comic issue, but it also isn’t as long as some graphic novels. It clocks in around 40 pages, so it a brief, yet entertaining read.
This is a pretty decent introduction to Street Angel. I had no knowledge of the character before reading this and was still able to enjoy it. It is pretty easy to tell who Street Angel generally is with how the story is told and what is revealed. The first few pages show news clippings and aliases, so clearly, the girl has an established record. Additionally, she eats a ton of food, and the other girls know about her and are in awe of her. We know she has a reputation.
There isn’t a whole lot of character development, as I am thinking that this is just an episodic type of continuation. It takes a known character, puts her in a particular situation, and we are just here to watch and enjoy. It is enjoyable without prior knowledge of any works involving the character, but I get the feeling it is best if you already know who Street Angel is. I thought she was a fun character and that it changed up the ideas of infiltrating prison and prison breakouts. This had a new sort of twist on it, and it is mainly due to the fact that the character is so young. It makes the story more comical and fun than if an adult was doing the same general thing. Since Street Angel is a child, she has to come up with a fitting plan of escape and behavior in order for us to believe what she is doing. She can’t be like a sophisticated spy, or else this story would be unbelievable. I wouldn’t say it is realistic anyway, but everything done fits the character and her age.
The art is very cartoony and simple. The colors help to convey a lot of the action, for example when there is chaos; there are brighter lights and more colors included in a panel. Otherwise, the color scheme is kept very simple, with lots of yellow tones. Street Angel is also artistically recognizable, even in disguises, due to her hair and freckles. I thought she was a funny little character and she is very contrasted from the girls around her. She is more cartoony and cute, whereas the others are bulkier or generic looking by comparison. Overall, this story just feels youthful in its execution. Sometimes Street Angel’s facial features and expressions actually reminded me of the characters from the Nintendo game Animal Crossing. Street Angel is the result of what would happen if you took an Animal Crossing character (face style), toss them out on the streets, and then let them cause havoc and stage prison breakouts. That may sound bizarre, but it seems like an accurate artistic depiction in my mind so bear with me and just visualize it for a second. On the note of characters looking familiar, I have to say that Superhawk (a character I am also not familiar with) reminds me of Principal Prickly from the animated show Recess, without a mustache and having a generally skinnier face. I’m not sure if Superhawk is featured in any other Street Angel comic or if he is just here to serve as a plot mover, being the reason that Street Angel even has to infiltrate the juvenile prison.
This comic is entertaining, the art is fun and childish in a good way, and it is reminiscent of some childhood memories I have stored away. I thought it was a fun to read and that it could be enjoyed by young teens and maybe edgy parents who are into comics. I would consider reading more stories involving Street Angel and seeing what other scenarios she finds herself in. The synopsis on Image’s website makes it seem like it would be longer in length when in reality, each plot point they mention is rather brief. If you want a short, fun read, this is a good one, but I’m not sure that the price is really justifiable. This might just be one you recommend that your library get so you can read it first before deciding on a full purchase. We pay $3.99 or so for 20 pages in print, so I don’t know that almost double that is necessarily worth about $20 in print when you can get much more from something like Watchmen for around $28 or V for Vendetta around $13. It is a good story, but the price-to-story value just doesn’t seem right to me. Personally, I’d pay no more than $10-13 for something like this. Printing may not be cheap, but when you can get some of the best graphic novels of all time for UNDER $20, this kind of pricing seems ridiculous.
Score: 3/5
Street Angel Goes to Juvie
Image Comics